Over spring break, middle school math chair Vandana Kadam spent her spare time teaching math online to students who were unable to attend school due closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. She asked some of her current students, as well as former students who are now at the upper school, if they would like to assist, and seventh grader Jonathan Xue, eighth graders Claire Luo, Julie Shi, Cynthia Wang, Michelle Wei, Olivia Xu and Ella Yee, and ninth graders Riya Gupta, Stephen Xia and Sally Zhu all jumped at the chance to help. The sessions have continued past spring break and now take place twice a week. “It is so rewarding to see our students taking time from their busy schedules to help other students,” Kadam said. “They do it with tremendous dedication ensuring that the students benefit from the coaching.”
Harker middle school students earned high marks in math competitions in February and March. Fifteen students performed well enough on the American Mathematics Competition 10 (AMC10) to participate in the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME), held in March. The following scores are the sum of the students’ scores on the AIME, multiplied by 10, and added to their scores on the AMC10. Eighth grader Olivia Xu scored 222 points and was the highest-scoring Harker middle school student. Right behind Xu was Ethan Liu, grade 8, with a score of 210.5, while Angela Liu and Jonathan Xue, both grade 7, each had a score of 197. Eighth grader Emma Gao scored 195. The remaining portions of the AMC, including the AIME II, the US Mathematical Olympiad and Junior Mathematical Olympiad, have been postponed until further notice due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In February, students took part in the Bay Area Math Olympiad, where the Harker middle school team’s score of 93 made it the top placing team. Olivia Xu was the top scorer for Harker with a score of 32 out of 35 points, placing second overall. Ethan Liu took fourth place with a score of 31 and eighth grader Aniketh Tummala, with a score of 30 points, received an honorable mention. Seventh grader Jonathan Xue’s 29 points also earned an honorable mention.
Sixth graders Anika Akkiraju, Shloka Chawla, Pavitra Kasthuri and Danielle Steinbach spent their spring break devising a way to help medical workers dealing with PPE shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic. After meeting via Zoom, the students launched a fundraising campaign on April 1 to collect donations to purchase the equipment. By the end of the campaign, the students had raised nearly $11,000, which they used to buy 3,000 masks and 1,000 face shields for Kaiser Permanente, which were delivered late last week.
“Despite being quarantined and unable to connect with each other, we have created memories that remind us to continue serving the community and have succeeded in helping others,” said Chawla. “The experience has taught us valuable lessons, and together we had lots of fun.”
Harker students had a great showing at the 2020 Synopsys Science & Technology Championship, winning multiple first awards and grand prizes. Eighth graders Gautam Bhooma and Ramit Goyal were each grand prize winners, and also won first awards along with fellow eighth graders Zachary Blue, Alex Guo, Jordan Labio, Nathan Liu, Ella Lan and Heidi Lu. All won first awards and qualified for the California Science & Engineering Fair, which has been canceled along with the International Science and Engineering Fair, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Sixth graders Brenna Ren, Kallie Wang, Hubert Lau and Serena Lau were also first award winners.
At the high school level, juniors Krishay Mukhija, Sidra Xu, Russell Yang, Nicholas Yi and sophomore Harsh Deep all won grand prizes. Deep, Muhkija, Xu and Yang also took home first awards. Other upper school first award winners were juniors Michael Eng and Aditya Tadimeti and sophomores Akhilesh Chegu and Deven Shah.
In late March, a number of Harker families began making face shields to help local hospitals deal with a projected surge of COVID-19 patients. Having heard that 3D-printed face shields had become popular, Harker parent Mary Yang (Andrew Pangborn, grade 4) reached out to her friend, Jian Chen (Kevin, grade 5, and Julie, grade 4), who owns a 3D printer, and asked if he could produce some masks for her and her co-workers at Kaiser Permanente in Santa Clara. The family of Emma Lee, grade 5, and Anna Lee, grade 8, also joined the effort, and the group ended up printing and assembling 100 masks. “The doctors and nurses at Kaiser loved them,” reported Yang.
Nine Harker students won national medals in this year’s Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, one of which is the first Harker middle schooler to receive a national medal in the contest.
Trisha Iyer, grade 8, received a silver medal for her poem, “Argan (T)oil.”
Senior Michael Tang was a gold medal winner for his piece, “The Pugilist.” Seniors Annie Ma and Ashna Reddy; junior Betsy Tian; sophomores Emily Tan, Esther Wu and Gloria Zhu; and freshman Austina Xu were silver medal winners, with Zhu winning a pair of medals, one for a hoodie design she created for the class of 2022.
National medalists are traditionally invited to participate in the national events celebration in New York City. This year’s events were unfortunately canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but a virtual celebration has been planned for June 4.
Earlier this month, eighth graders Angelina Hu and Olivia Xu were among five students to win the inaugural Maryam Mirzakhani Award in the American Mathematics Competition (AMC) 10A Golden Section (consisting of Northern California, Northern Nevada, Hawaii and the Pacific U.S. Islands). This award is given to the top scoring young women in the competition and is named for the Iranian mathematician and Stanford professor who was the first woman to receive the prestigious Fields Medal. The AMC is held annually by the Mathematical Association of America and tasks contestants with solving 25 problems in 75 minutes. The AMC 10 is intended for students in grade 10 and below.
Despite a season cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, four middle school robotics teams had a highly successful year in the VEX Robotics Competition. All four qualified for the California State Championships, which were scheduled for earlier this month before being canceled.
Eighth graders Zachary Blue, Sriram Bhimaraju and Jordan Labio were two-time tournament winners and twice won robot skills challenges, in which the team ranked in the top 20 worldwide. The team also received a Think Award for the quality of its robot’s programming.
In their first year of competition, Angela Liu and Kaitlyn Su, both grade 7, won a pair of tournaments as well as a robot skills challenge and were finalists and semifinalists multiple times. Additionally, the team placed first in a VEX Silicon Valley Middle School League event.
Eighth graders Ramit Goyal, Joe Li and Nathan Liu were winners at one high school tournament and twice reached the semifinals in other events. Their robot’s user interface earned them an Innovate Award.
Ella Yee and Julie Shi, both grade 8, also competed for the first time this year, winning one tournament and reaching the quarterfinals in two other events.
This report was submitted by lower and middle school athletic director Theresa “Smitty” Smith.
Here are the results from our early winter and late winter sports seasons at the lower and middle schools.
Early Winter – Boys Basketball and Girls Soccer
VA (grade 7-8) Boys Basketball
The Varsity A team, coached by Richard Amarillas, finished in a three-way tie for second place in the WBAL with a record of 3-3 and went 4-5 overall. The team also took second place in the gold division of the WBAL tournament. Team awards went to Zachary Blue and Om Tandon, both grade 8 (co-MVPs), Brian Xiao, grade 8 (Eagle), and Kyle Leung, grade 8 (Coaches).
VB (grade 7-8) Boys Basketball
The Varsity B team, coached by Tim Hopkins, finished in first place in the WBAL with an 8-0 record and went 10-0 overall. The team also took first place in the gold division of the WBAL tournament. Team awards went to Bowen Xia and Rahul Yalla, both grade 7 (co-MVPs), Vyom Vidyarthi, grade 7 (Eagle), and Gary Jin, grade 7 (Coaches).
VB2 (grade 7-8) Boys Basketball
The Varsity B2 team, coached by Randy LeGris, finished in fifth place in the WBAL with a 2-5 record. Team awards went to Reza Jalil, grade 8 (MVP), Rayan Arya, grade 7 (Eagle), and Leo Sobczyn and Nikhil Chadha, both grade 7 (Coaches).
JVA (grade 6) Boys Basketball
The Junior Varsity A team, coached by Jon Cvitanich, finished in second place in the WBAL with a 5-1 record and an overall record of 7-2. The team also finished in second place in the gold division of the WBAL tournament. Team awards went to Brennan Williams (MVP), Topaz Lee (Eagle) and Rishaan Thoppay (Coaches).
JVB6 (grade 6) Boys Basketball
The Junior Varsity B6 team, coached by Raul Rios, finished in third place in the WBAL with a record. Team awards went to Ethan Leelanivas (MVP), Alejandro Cheline (Eagle) and Ritik Raman (Coaches).
MS Intramural Boys Basketball
Team awards went to Daniel Schwartz, grade 7 (MVP), Krish Goenka, grade 6 (Eagle) and Daniel Miao, grade 6 (Coaches). The team was coached by Adam Albers and Ron Paranada.
JVB1 (grade 5) Boys Basketball
The Junior Varsity B1 team, coached by Karriem Stinson, finished in a two-way tie for second place in the WBAL with a 6-1 record, and an overall record of 8-2. The team then took first place in the WBAL tournament. Team awards went to Kai Nishimura (MVP), Brandon Labio (Eagle) and Raj Akunuri (Coaches).
JVB2 (grade 5) Boys Basketball
The Junior Varsity B2 team, coached by Spring Wang, finished in sixth place in the WBAL with a 3-4 record. Team awards went to Benjamin Leafstrand (MVP), Zack Weng (Eagle) and Yash Belani (Coaches).
JVC (grade 4) Boys Basketball
The Junior Varsity C team, coached by Karriem Stinson, finished in fourth place in the WBAL with a 3-3 record. Team awards went to Jackson Yue and Luca Chan (Eagle) and Reid Bardin (Coaches).
LS Intramural Boys Basketball
Team awards went to Vidwat Shekar, grade 4 (MVP), Jaden Cao, grade 4, and Ian Lee, grade 5 (Eagle), and Avi Gupta, grade 4, and Shamik Khowala, grade 5 (Coaches). The team was coached by Tobias Wade and Walid Fahmy.
VA (grade 7-8) Girls Soccer
The Varsity A team, coached by Brighid Wood, Hannah Grannis, Dini Wong and Morgan Smith, finished in sixth place in the WBAL with a record of 1-5. Team awards went to Kate Grannis, grade 8 (MVP), Claire Anderson, grade 7, and Layla McClure, grade 7 (Eagle), and Margaret Cartee, grade 8 (Coaches).
JVB (grade 5) Girls Soccer
The Junior Varsity B team, coached by Colleen Campbell and Brittney Moseley, finished in second place in the WBAL with a record of 5-1. Team awards went to Ava Zarkesh and Chelsea Xie (Eagle) and Heather Wang (Coaches).
LS Intramural Girls Soccer
Team awards went to Maya Horan, grade 4 (MVP), Sofiah Jalil, grade 4 (Eagle), and Sasha Gupta, grade 4 (Coaches). The team was coached by Colleen Campbell and Brittney Moseley.
Late Winter – Girls Basketball and Boys Soccer
VA (grade 7-8) Girls Basketball
The Varsity A team, coached by Richard Amarillas, finished in second place in the WBAL with a 7-1 record, and finished 8-1 overall. They were to play in the gold division championship game of the WBAL tournament prior to the season being suspended. Team awards went to Anjali Yella, grade 8 (MVP), Isabella Lo, grade 7 (Eagle) and Kate Grannis, grade 8 (Coaches).
VB Girls Basketball
The Varsity B team, coached by Tim Hopkins, finished in first place in the WBAL with an 8-0 record, and finished 9-0 overall. They were to play in the gold division championship game of the WBAL tournament prior to the season being suspended. Team awards went to Alicia Yan, grade 6 (MVP), Claire Yu, grade 6 (Eagle) and Ria Kohli, grade 7 (Coaches).
JVA (grade 6) Girls Basketball
The Junior Varsity A team, coached by Jon Cvitanich, finished undefeated in third place in the WBAL with a 5-2 record and finished 5-3 overall. Team awards went to Iris Wang (MVP), Kimaya Mehta (Eagle) and Kira Bardin (Coaches).
MS Intramural Girls Basketball
Team awards went to Shreya Vemulapalli, grade 6 (MVP), AJ Hacigumus, grade 6 (Eagle), and Ella Guo, grade 6 (Coaches). The team was coached by Raul Rios, Adam Albers and Rob Moore.
JVB (grade 5) Girls Basketball
The Junior Varsity B team, coached by Ellie Pereira and Joycie Kaliangara, finished in fourth place in the WBAL with a 4-3 overall record. Team awards went to Finley Ho (MVP), Ava Zarkesh (Eagle) and Chelsea Xie and Jessica Chen (Coaches).
JVC (grade 4) Girls Basketball
The Junior Varsity C team, coached by Spring Wang and Emily Pereira, finished in first place in the WBAL with a 5-0 record. Team awards went to Jillian Chen (MVP), Sophie McGrath (Eagle) and Maya Horan (Coaches).
LS Intramural Girls Basketball
Team awards went to Sasha Gupta, grade 4 (Eagle) and Julie Chen, grade 4 (Coaches). The team was coached by Tobias Wade.
VA (grade 8) Boys Soccer
The Varsity A team, coached by Brighid Wood, Hannah Grannis and Michael Pflaging, finished in fifth place in the WBAL with a record of 0-8. Team awards went to Alex Guo (MVP), Ryan Barth (Eagle) and Chase White (Coaches).
VB (grade 7) Boys Soccer
The Varsity B team, coached by Brighid Wood, Morgan Smith and Ron Paranada, finished in third place in the WBAL with a league record of 2-2-1, and an overall record of 4-2. Team awards went to Ruhan Sahasi (MVP), Vyom Vidyarthi (Eagle), and Bowen Xia and Aarav Borthakur (Coaches).
JVA (grade 6) Boys Soccer
The Junior Varsity A team, coached by Brighid Wood and Dini Wong, finished in third place in the WBAL with a record of 3-5. Team awards went to Stanley Chen (MVP), Cyrus Ghane (Eagle) and Krish Nachnani (Coaches).
JVB (grade 5) Boys Soccer
The Junior Varsity B team, coached by Colleen Campbell and Oscar Flores, finished in fourth place in the WBAL with a record of 3-2-1. Team awards went to Vladimir Shchegrov (MVP), Ayden Grover (Eagle) and Rohan Goyal and Mason Brooks (Coaches).
LS Intramural Boys Soccer
Team awards went to Teodor Arnaudov, grade 4, Shridhar Chaware, grade 4, and Sudhith Gondipalli, grade 4 (Coaches). The team was coached by Karriem Stinson and Dominic Flocchini.
Congratulations to all our athletes and coaches for a great winter season!
Harker eighth graders Anish Jain, Jordan Labio, Kyle Leung and Vardaan Ghai received an honorable mention in the Toshiba/National Science Teaching Association ExploraVision contest, one of the world’s largest student science competitions. Honorable mentions are given to the top 10 percent of submissions, of which there are about 5,000 every year. The students developed their project, titled “Nanosense: Eliminating Food Allergies Using IgE/Th1/Th2 Sensors and Nanotechnology,” with the help of middle school science teacher Kathy Peng. This year’s competition tasked students with examining the technology of today to envision how it might evolve over the next 20 years.